Alice Cooper used to visit Groucho Marx when he couldn’t sleep

They became friends while living in Beverly Hills. Groucho had insomnia and would call Coop at 1 a.m. to hang out.

“He had a chair next to his bed with a six pack of Budweiser, and we would sit and watch old movies. And then pretty soon, after about two movies were over, I’d look over and he’d be in his beret and his cigar and he’d finally go to sleep. I’d put out his cigar, turn out the lights and go home. And the next night, one o’clock in the morning: ‘Hey coop, can’t sleep, come on over.’”

Groucho recognized Cooper’s shows as vaudeville, and he brought George Burns and Jack Benny along.

“In fact,” Cooper says, “George Burns would say, ‘Guillotine – I remember 1923, Gracie and I were working in Toledo. The great Mahagony did an act like that, except pigeons would come out.’

In 1978, the Hollywood sign was in bad shape after years of neglect. Nine donors each paid for one of the letters to be restored. Alice Cooper paid for the final O in memory of Groucho.